Representation of women in the boards of publicly owned enterprises and independent agencies

Today GAP Institute presented the findings of the report entitled "Representation of women in the boards of publicly owned enterprises and independent agencies".The report was presented at a round-table where the Minister of Economic Development and representatives of public institutions and civil society organizations were also present.

Nora Latifi-Jashari, Executive Director of the GAP Institute, said that this report is the second in the framework of the USAID-funded research project on women employment barriers in Kosovo. While the first report analyzed the language of how job advertisements create gender inequality, the second report analysis the gender representation in 31 publicly owned enterprises and 31 independent institutions and agencies. 

Jeton Mehmeti, Director of Research at GAP Institute, presented the report and emphasized that women are very little represented as board members, much less as board chairpersons, and only a small number of women hold  managerial positions at these institutions. According to him, out of 159 board members in 31 publicly owned enterprises, 135 are men and 24 are women, and only five boards are chaired by women. Meanwhile, over 85% of managerial positions in public enterprises are led by men. The situation is almost identical to the institutions and independent agencies. To increase the number of women on boards of public enterprises and independent institutions, GAP Institute recommended to set the quota for representation of women on boards of public enterprises. This is in line with the EU practice, where member states have set up a quota. In addition, a number of studies have confirmed the link between the gender diversity on board and the companys better economic and financial performance.  

Valdrin Lluka, Minister of Economic Development, informed the participants that the ministry he leads has prepared a concept paper that requires a complete amendment of the Law on Publicly Owned Enterprises. Minister Lluka promised that with the new law will be foreseen the quotas for the representation of women in the boards of public enterprises. On this occasion, the minister invited civil society to contribute to the drafting phase of the law in question based on findings of relevant reports such as the GAP Institutes. 

The other participant in the panel, Visare Gorani-Gashi, who leads the program of democratic governance, human rights and gender equality at the Swedish Embassy, ​​stressed out that one of the most important principles of gender equality is that women should have the right to balance the public and private life, without fear of discrimination and abuse. She stressed that social roles and expectations prevent the woman from being an equal participant in decision-making positions. Therefore, she recommended that the climate change in public life should be changed to enable women to have easier access to such positions. 

Other representatives of public institutions and civil society organizations participated in the discussion. In addition to the publication of the report, today GAP Institute has also launched a video campaign on gender discrimination in the labor market. 

Please click here to read the full report.

You can find the video by clicking here.